The discovery was made when Lincolnshire Police officers were called to a house in Devon Street on an unrelated incident involving Rashed, but a search of the premises - his girlfriend’s house where he would stay - uncovered 147,300 illegal cigarettes and 5.5kg of hand rolling tobacco, worth more than £39,000.

The cigarettes and tobacco were stashed in boxes under the stairs and in a bedroom and Rashed was arrested.